The Talk
by Forest Black
Summary: Being nervous was nothing new to Frankie, but when he was faced with a situation like this he could almost feel his heart trying to break out of his chest. Even though every fiber of his being wanted to turn away, he knew that he had to do this. For Jane.
1. Chapter 1

Frankie paced outside the lab door rubbing anxiously at the back of his neck. Jane had just left to go back up stairs, but it wouldn't be long before Maura called her back down for the autopsy, so it was now or never. Gathering the scraps of courage that he had found to do this he quickly pushed open the door and walked over to where Dr. Isles was currently waiting for the truck.

"Frankie? What's wrong, you look a little pale." Maura said, walking up to the young Rizzoli. Jane would want her to take a look at him if he was sick, so why not get a head start.

"Maura stop. I need you to just listen for a sec, k?" Maura was a little put off by his statement, but did as he wished, backing off. She had never seen him like this so whatever was bothering him must be pretty serious. "Okay, I've never done this before so you're just going to have to bear with me okay?" She gave him a slight nod, not sure where this was going.

"Okay so look Maura. I don't know what's going on between you and Jane but…" He paused for a second and resumed his pacing. "This was always Tommy's job." He muttered. "You just have to…" He glanced back up and made sure that Maura was looking at him. To his surprise she actually was, a look of concern on her face. "Look. Just be careful with her. She may seem tough but under that hard exterior there is still a little girl in there and all she ever wanted was to be loved. You're going to have to be soft with her because you of all people know that she's been hurt before." He stopped pacing and looked back at Maura. She was silent, and it was now her turn to be pale. When she didn't answer him, he continued.

"Jane is special Maura. I've never met anyone like her. She's as hard as nails but she falls in love so quickly, not that she would ever admit it. You have to be careful with her. Promise me you'll love her okay?" He walked up close to her and repeated himself. "You have to promise me." She managed a feeble nod, unable to meet his eyes. As if on cue one Jane Rizzoli entered the lab. Frankie flew away from Maura as quickly as he could, but it wasn't fast enough for Jane not to see anything.

"Hope I'm not interrupting anything…" Maura and Frankie shook their heads.

"No. I was just leaving." Frankie said, giving Maura one last look before walking out. Jane eyed the two of them wearily before going to join Maura by the door.

"What was that all about?" Maura just shook her head, not able to speak yet. There was no way that she would ever be able to tell Jane what Frankie had just been going on about, mostly because even though Frankie seemed so serious, Maura had no idea what he was talking about.


	2. Chapter 2

AN: Okay, honestly I wasn't planning on continuing this story, but with all the positive feed back I reconsidered.

"Frankie?" The young man spun around at the sound of Maura's voice, his eyes wide. He had hoped in vain that they could just ignore the conversation that they had earlier, but alas that wish had not been granted. When it was evident Frankie wasn't going to respond, Maura continued. "What were you talking about earlier?" Always best to be blunt and to the point. Frankie just sighed, rubbing the back of his neck sheepishly.

"Maura it's okay. You can just be straight with me. We all know. We've known for a long time." When the confused expression didn't fade from Maura's eyes Frankie allowed himself to keep pressing. "I know it must be hard, but seriously, you can tell us. Me Frost and Ma already have a pot going on when you two are going to come out of the closet. But if you want, you could just promise me that you'll love and take car of her and we can just drop this now." Now, Maura Isles was by no means a dumb woman. She was one of the smartest people she knew and scientifically proven to be a genus. But as the meaning of Frankie's words sunk in, Maura couldn't help but feel that she was in someway misunderstanding him.

"Frankie..." Maura paused, trying to wrap her mind around all of this. "What are you implying?"

"Maura, I know about you and Jane." He stated as if this cleared everything up. Realization dawned on Maura and she could feel he cheeks heating up.

"Me and... me Jane? Wha... we... What?" She stuttered, dumbstruck with her inability to form a full thought and sudden loss of the English language. Honestly, at this point her was a little angry with herself. Maura Isles did not under any circumstances get flustered or flabbergasted. It just wasn't in her nature. But then again this situation wasn't exactly in her comfort zone.

"Ya know. How you and Jane are... Together?" Frankie managed as he tried to gauge Maura's reaction. He really should have listened to his gut this morning and not bothered her about it. He was only trying to be a good brother to Jane like she has always been there for him.

"Oh... Oh! No. Umm... Frankie, we not together like that." Maura chuckled softly at the thought, running her fingers through her hair. Her and Jane together? What a silly thought. Sure, they had pretended a couple times but only to protect something or another. Or if they were working a case. Still, they would never actually be together. But Frankie only gave her a knowing smile before ducking out of his office and leaving a rather confused Maura Isles in his wake.

***  
Maura entered the bar and headed to her and Jane's usual booth, her thoughts running ramped through her mind. Was it weird that they had a usual booth? Did they spend too much time together? Was it weird the she liked it when they pretended to be together? As expected, Jane was waiting for her there, her usual beer in hand.

"Aye Maura, you got those test results back yet?" Her heart was not supposed to jump when Jane said her name, was it? Had it always jumped like this and she never noticed before? Did she always feel so light headed and jittery when she was around Jane? She needed to sit down. "Hello? Earth so Maura?" Jane said, waving her hand in front of the doctors face.

"S-Sorry." Maura sputtered, falling into the seat opposite of Jane. The detective eyed her warily, looking over her friend.

"You okay?" She asked. As Maura nodded her head, Jane couldn't help but raise her eye brow. There was no way that she was okay.

"Maura. Look at me." Maura hadn't even noticed that she had been avoiding Jane's eyes. Glancing up at her she found that she couldn't look at her brown orbs for longer then a couple seconds before her eyes drifted down to her lips, causing her then to look away once more. What was this? What had Frankie done to her?

"I uh... have to go." Maura stood up, noting how weird she must appear to Jane as she practically ran out of the pub. It was now her turn to leave a confused colleague behind her.


	3. Chapter 3

Chapter Three

"Is that you Maura?" Angela called from the kitchen upon hearing the front door open. She sure hoped it was Maura cause she needed help figuring out how to work her knew oven.

"Yes Angela, it's me." Maura was still slightly in a daze from seeing Jane earlier. Had she always had this reaction when spending time with her friend? It was then that Maura realized that friend wasn't enough to describe their relationship, even in the simplest of terms. They were more then that.

"Could you help me figure out how to work this thing?" Angela gestured to the stove once Maura was in her line of sight. Maura nodded and went over to the stove. After a grueling forty five Maura retired to her room, some how pulling off graciously falling onto her bed. After a few minutes of turning thoughts over and over again Maura sighed in defeat. There was no plausible reason why she should be this distraught over the thought of having feelings for her best friend. It was completely normal to imagine your friend in these ways right? Everyone has had a best friend that they have pretended to be lesbians with and at least a hand full have imagined what it would be like to be with them for real like Maura had, right? It was then that Angela joined the blonde in her room. Pulling herself together Maura sat up, greeting the older woman with a warm smile.

"Maura, you know you can always talk to me right?" She looked over Maura, giving the girl a knowing look. Did everyone in this God damn world know about this? And if so, why could they not have been kind enough to inform Maura pryer to Frankie tripping over his tongue.

"I know Angela. Did Frankie tell you what happened?" The other woman's eyes lit up at the mention of what had happened previously, glad that Maura brought it up so she wouldn't have to.

"Yes he did. Do you want to talk about it?" Maura shook her head, not wanting to burden the woman with the overflow of thoughts that were all trying to escape at once. "You should call her." Angela pushed, trying to solicit some kind of reaction from the paling woman.

"I will." Maura decided, pulling out her phone. Angela got up to leave. After the other woman left the room Maura sighed, putting the phone back into her pocket. There was no way that she was going to be able to face Jane after what she just did. Sure what had just happened in the bar had seemed weird, but Maura wasn't sure that she could face her friend at all now that she was aware that when Jane was around her heart made a permanent resistance in her throat.

She let herself fall back onto the bed and cut the light off, allowing herself to drift into a dreamless sleep.

***  
It was around two in the morning when there was a pounding on the front door. Startled Maura leaped from bed and pulled on her robe before proceeding through to the front door. Opening it slowly she was surprised to find Jane on the other side, a look of dismay on her beautiful face.

"Jane." Maura instantly opened the door wide enough for the other woman to slip in before closing it behind her. She turned around to face her friend, for some reason not bothered by the fact that she had shown up unannounced in the dark of night.

"Maura, are you okay? It's been bothering me ever sense you left the bar. Did I do something to make you mad?" Maura was instantly softened by the earnest in Jane's voice. She really thought that something was wrong.

"Jane, you didn't do anything wrong. I promise." Maybe it was the fact that she was half asleep, and that's why the pounding in her chest didn't bother her. Or maybe she was just passed the point of caring. After sleeping on it, Maura was almost positive that what Jane and her had was past any kind of friendship imaginable.

"Then what is it Maura?" Jane took a step closer and Maura felt her breath hitch in her throat. Jane was so close to her. It would take nothing to close the space between them and capture those beautiful lips with her own.

"I'm fine." She felt more then saw two strong arms pull her into an embrace.

"Maura, I know you're lying. You're already breaking out in hives." Jane chuckled at her joke and Maura could feel it warming her. There was no words to describe what she felt about this woman. So as Jane pulled herself out of the hug Maura did what she had been dying to do sense that morning. She leaned in and pressed her lips against Jane's. Instantly the other woman stiffened but it wasn't long before she allowed herself to melt into the kiss. After what felt like hours Maura came upon the realization that she did need oxygen to survive. Breaking the kiss, Maura looked into the dark brown eyes that she found herself loving. Jane looked her over a smile plastered on her face.

"You know how long I've been waiting for you to do that?"


End file.
